


A Good Man

by rinnytin



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, M/M, kiss and regret!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:33:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27278053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinnytin/pseuds/rinnytin
Summary: He’s gonna see how much of a real man I can be, he had told himself that since he started to take acting more seriously - not just that the older man would appreciate just him as an actor, but as a person too. He was young but he knew that his age wasn’t something that was holding him back from reaching his potential - Sakyo could see that he wasn’t just some lowly brat in his eyes anymore. He was a man.
Relationships: Furuichi Sakyou/Settsu Banri
Kudos: 10





	A Good Man

**Author's Note:**

> Bansakyo ? sakyoban ? idk i want them 2 kiss

“Hey, look at me,” Banri nudged the older man's face in his direction - he smiled, watching as his cheeks bloomed with a faint pink and he quirked a brow in surprise at the bashfulness that someone as stoic as Sakyo could have. He had to hand it to the old man - he was way better at the subtle emotional cues that he was and he just had to deal with that for now. He was gonna work on it and Sakyo would have to recognize that, he would have to, “I know that you said it’s too risky, but I want to be with you and to hell with everyone else.”

“You know that I can’t just get up and run away, I have a family to take care of,” Sakyo’s hand was on his cheek, his thumb wiped at the tear that Banri forced to fall - they were close, their breaths mingling as Banri pressed his forget against Sakyo’s, “You’ve done well for yourself, Ash, I’ve seen how much you’ve grown up and I want to see you keep going. But you have to do it without me.”

His hand clenched at his side, his brows twitched in anger as he shoved Sakyo back - going to swing but it was intercepted, his body twisting as he was forced onto the ground with his hand pressed to his back. 

“You’re a coward, Eli! You know that your family is just a front, your wife is off sleeping with her boss, and your kids will never see you as their father. Not when you’re never in their life,” Banri’s words came out like venom, he was able to carry much more emotion in his words now and that was one of the reasons that Tsuzuru wrote his part as being a cool, collected guy who’s emotions were spat out in his anger, an emotion that Banri was able to easily channel, “Face it, the only reason we work so well together is that we lie to ourselves about how important we are. Maybe it’s because you’re older and you’re set in your ways, but I know that pain I see in your eyes when I see you greet those people who call you family. You know saw it in me and you told me that you hated it, so why do you insist on living like that.”

“You don’t know what it’s like, Ash. You’re twenty years old, never had any real attachment to the people in your little street gang. You said it yourself, you’re more of a lone wolf but they needed a leader so you just went with it. It was just a convenience, you didn’t actually want it.”

Sakyo let go of him and stood up, leaving Banri still face down on the ground.

“Then just kill me here, say that I attacked you and you defended yourself,” He said it with as much emotion as he could muster, but he felt like it came out too flat - instead of being upset, he just sounded indifferent, “You can get away with it and go on living that shitty fairytale life you hate. And if I’m dead you know that I would come back into your life ever again.”

“Don’t say that,” Sakyo yelled, his voice booming in the practice room - it was enough to make the rest of the guys jump in surprise, “I love you, you stupid piece of shit! I’ve risked everything already for you and you want me to kill you just because I can’t pretend like everything is gonna be perfect in that little delusion of your?!”

“Then we can just end it all now, together. It’ll be romantic, just like Romeo and Juliet,” Banri let out a dry laugh, “You said you like the classics, right? Let’s go out like that, forbidden lovers who can’t stand the fact they can never be together.”

“Ash, sit up,” Sakyo’s voice was soft as he tugged on his arm, letting Banri push himself back up until he was sitting on his knees, cheek red from being pressed against the floor, “Let me just… figure this all out. I can’t just leave, but I’ll tie up the loose ends on my part and we can try to start over somewhere else. Just wait for me?”

“I can’t stay here, Eli,” Banri pressed his forehead against Sakyo’s shoulder, “I’ll wait, but I can’t wait forever, I won’t wait forever.”

“Look at me,” Sakyo lifted his chin, smiling as he leaned in - their lips were close, Banri gripped at his sweats as Sakyo pulled away, “I promise I’ll find you.”

“Scene!” Izumi clapped her hands and Sakyo pulled away, coughing as he stood up - offering a hand to Banri who took it and pulled himself up.

“You guys are so amazing!” Taichi yelled it, practically bouncing in place. 

“It was a surprise that Tsuzuru would write a romance story for autumn, but you guys really sold it,” Banri began to block out the praises, trying to focus on what he needed to improve on for next time. But Izumi clapped again and Banri snapped back to it, “But some notes on that scene is Banri the way you asked Eli to kill you with no emotion, that was so much better than being. It makes it seem like Ash just gave up completely.”

“Ah, thanks, I really don’t get an emotional vibe from Ash’s character,” Banri lied, but he knew that he could play it off as intentional, “Like with Eli, he’s more vulnerable, but once he thinks that things are over he just shuts down.”

“I like that interpretation, it’s like his character comes full circle. I thought that you were just half-assing it,” Sakyo clapped a hand over his shoulder and Banri smiled awkwardly, he wasn’t sure what he was feeling - he was sure that he fucked up the scene with his lackluster emotional performance, but maybe it could pay off in the actual run. Hearing Sakyo praise him felt good enough, especially with how well his part has come along. Banri hated to admit it, but Sakyo was “I think that we’re in good shape for this weekend’s dress rehearsal. Settsu, mind staying back for a bit?”

“What for?”

“I just want to run over a few scenes that I felt weren’t as seamless as they could be. The rest of you are free to go,” Sakyo closed out the meeting, the rest of the troupe leaving the practice room while excitedly discussing what post-practice snack Omi could make for them. It was silent, just for a few minutes while Sakyo set up two folding chairs. 

“The scene while Ash and Eli at the train station, it’s supposed to be awkward since Eli’s son is with them but you’re too stiff during it so I want to run through it,” Sakyo said as Banri took a seat, “Just relax, it’s not supposed to be tense.”

“I mean, I think it would be a little tense if I was wanted criminal who slept with a married cop who is on my case,” Banri chuckled but Sakyo just sighed, obviously not into joking around about this - he barely wanted to do this play in the first place, but after finding out that there were many fans that were talking about a prospective romance story for Autumn, Tsuzuru took it as a challenge to up his writing.

While action was what they were known for, the fact that the winter troupe was able to get away with forbidden romance storylines was enough confidence that they could get away with it. It was another gang-related main plot, Sakyo was playing the lead of Eli, a good cop who is assigned on the case of taking down a gang with a growing presence in his city. Banri was the co-lead - a bored delinquent who just happened to be able to hold them down long enough to become a household name. The main plot is action-packed, mostly following the various instances of Eli taking on Ash’s gang but the romance between their characters subtle builds over the course of the play until the end where the romance is front and center.

“Oh, you can sit here,” Banri looked up, eyes widening as he and Sakyo made eye contact - his movements faltered for a second, he was halfway to getting up but slowly reacted to the unexpected meeting - Banri couldn’t depend on his expressions since he was going to be wearing a face mask and cap as a disguise, so he had to depend on his movements which wasn’t hard if he really put his mind to it. 

“That’s better than before,” Sakyo said, his hand lingering on Banri’s shoulder for a moment too long. The chemistry between them was awkward at times, mostly on Sakyo’s part since he was much less candid about his emotions, even less than Banri which was saying something.

“You need to trust me more,” Banri said, standing up and despite their height only being off by two inches - Sakyo had to look up at him. Banri was moving as Ash, caressing the older man’s cheek with a smirk, “If we’re going to make this work, you need to look at me as more than some brat.”

“Settsu,” His face was red and his breathing deepened and Banri was close enough to feel the change, he didn’t know what he was doing he just wanted to see if he would be able to get away with being this bold. He knew that the older man had slowly been warming up to him as a leader - confiding in him about his concerns about their upcoming shows or having Banri as his practice partner for action scenes since out of the rest of the guys, Banri was the most capable at giving him feedback. He didn’t really, “What are you planning?”

“I’m not plannin’ anything,” Banri’s let his hand move down his jaw, lightly grazing his neck before settling on his shoulder, “I want you to show me who Ash is.”

There it was - the most indirect way that Banri could ask for Sakyo to take the lead without actually saying the words for real. He was confident, but even that seemed like crossing the boundaries of what even he could do - but maybe if he was reading the signs correctly, Sakyo will do it. Their foreheads bumped, Banri had to close his eyes to keep himself grounded - their lips pressed together awkwardly but Banri could feel that Sakyo was trying his best to not be too aggressive with him (even if he knew full well that Banri could handle it.) They pulled away - Banri smirking as Sakyo pushed his glasses back up and cleared his throat.

“Sorry,” Banri was going to tell him that it was fine and that’s exactly what he wanted to happen - but he was already grabbing his stuff to leave and Banri didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t just tell him that he wanted to go farther than just an awkward kiss, especially not when he leads on with something as dumb as he did, “Let’s just forgot that it happened, have a good night.”

* * *

“Settsu, a word,” Sakyo started towards the door to the courtyard - not giving him any room to argue with the demand. It wasn’t like Banri _needed_ to argue - he hadn't done anything wrong and he hadn’t brought the kiss up to anyone despite it being on his mind non-stop. He stopped at his door - sighing as he turned around to face Banri, his cheeks tinged pink, “We need to talk… about what happened.”

“You said you wanted to forget it happened,” Banri said, the air getting thick in his throat as he stepped into the older man’s room - the click of the door, followed by the tumbling of locks being his sign that he could run away even if he wanted to.

“I know, but maybe it’s just me, but that is easier said than done,” Sakyo shook his head, almost like he was disappointed by the betrayal of his own thoughts, “But I can’t help but think about how much you’ve grown up from that know it all brat. You’re a man now, Settsu, I can say that with confidence.”

 _He’s gonna see how much of a real man I can be_ , he had told himself that since he started to take acting more seriously - not just that the older man would appreciate just him as an actor, but as a person too. He was young but he knew that his age wasn’t something that was holding him back from reaching his potential - Sakyo could see that he wasn’t just some lowly brat in his eyes anymore. He was a man.

“I can’t say that it’s a surprise with how this play has been,” Sakyo smiled, pushing his glasses up, “You weren’t upset after I got caught up in the moment and kissed you. I didn't know what else to do besides just tell you to forget it and leave.”

“It’s fine.” Banri shrugged it off, he didn’t want to make him feel guilty about pulling a kiss and ditch on him. He didn’t mind it as much as he wanted more, he would take anything he could get even if it left a sour taste in his mouth knowing he was hoping for more when to Sakyo it was just a mistake, “I don’t want you to feel like you have apologize or think that you’re bad for makin’ a move. I didn’t pull away because I wanted you to keep going.”

He wanted Sakyo to keep going to see how much of a man he could be, he wanted to show him that. But that wouldn’t fly, not when he was _him_ \- he needed to be someone else.

“We don’t have to be us if that makes you more comfortable,” Banri suggested without really thinking about the implications of “being other people” during for a moment of intimacy between them, “You can be Eli since you seem more comfortable with moving around with Ash more than with me.”

Sakyo nodded - his room wasn’t equipped to have any visits of this nature and unless he wanted to go at it on the floor which didn’t seem like a good idea. Ash was confident and in control, he took the reins between him and Eli, who was much more hesitant about pursuing their relationship. But that’s not what Banri wanted to go about things, he wanted them to be equals if they were going to move forward like this - he didn’t want there to be any indication that Banri was a reckless kid in Sakyo’s eyes. He moved into his space - his breathing hitching as Sakyo leaned in, a hand on his cheek as he moved in to kiss him. He was tense - his lips were unmoving and Banri had to encourage him by flicking his tongue over his lips. He felt Sakyo’s hands under his shirt - running up his stomach before he pulled away.

“Let’s get undressed before we go up?” Banri asked, trying to not give in to the excitement that was building in his stomach as Sakyo’s thumbs ran over his nipples - testing the waters for a reaction and he let out a mew as he pinched them. 

“You like that, _Ash?_ ” The character’s name came out naturally and Banri forgot that he wasn’t supposed to himself right now. He just nodded, not trusting himself at the moment to keep up the act with how the older man was handling him. He didn’t really expect anything for Sakyo - he was pretty indifferent to things and a bit of a stickler when it came to his personality so the way he was carefully, almost delicate made him feel weird. Banri wasn’t delicate, he could take it - but Ash couldn’t and Sakyo knew that so he was being just as careful as Eli would be with him. 

“Come on,” His shirt was pulled off, discarded to the side as Sakyo seemingly snapped out of it and undressed. It was awkward - the atmosphere was wrong, it was they were moving for two different reasons; Banri to prove that he was just as good as Sakyo and Sakyo as another person altogether. It’s not what he wanted, it felt wrong - like he was betraying both himself and Sakyo for going on with the idea that this was him acting as a character. He was all for roleplaying, but they had gone as far as a one-off kiss and now were trying to do whatever this is.

“Sakyo,” Banri’s hands were around the older man’s wrists, pulling his hands away from his chest - the confusion that flashed across his face then melted into panic was enough for Banri to realize that he made the right call. Tasuku was shit at separating himself from his character, but Sakyo was riding on his coattails, and combined with the stress of trying to keep the company afloat financially - it didn’t seem that far off for him to just completely give in to his character as some kind of relief to the stress of his everyday life. He was Sakyo, the dependable and the sharp-tongued asshole that whipped everyone into shape because he cared _too much_ about making the company relive the glory days but he wanted to be Eli, comfortable with the way things were crashing down around him as long as he had some semblance of love directed at him; he wanted to be insecure, he wanted to be vulnerable. Banri wasn’t sure that he was equipped to deal with this type of emotional baggage, hell, he knows he isn’t able to deal with it at all. 

“Settsu,” His voice was firm as he started to pull his shirt back on - buttoning it with practiced fingers and Banri just mumbled under his breath that it’s fine before grabbing his shirt off the floor. He didn’t know if it was fine, he wanted to prove himself to Sakyo that he wasn’t a kid anymore but he couldn’t do that if he was looking at him as the person he knows from a script. It was a failed imitation of who Banri actually was - he knew that Tsuzuru had based it off of him and his experience with becoming the leader for Autumn and Eli was a convoluted way of describing his passion for acting, something he needed to go after despite his hang-ups - but it still was too removed, too impersonal for him to continue like that. He wasn’t sure that he even _wanted_ to go that far with the older man - sure the tension had started building since they were giving the script and told to act as lovers, but that was apart of acting, you fall into character and sometimes the faked intimacy could start to feel real when you’re not used to it. He was being the grown-up here, he wasn’t chasing some falsified love and he knew that would only end in regret. 

“It’s fine,” Banri patted Sakyo’s shoulder awkwardly, “If it’s not something that you want as yourself, I don’t want to get caught up in that. Just forget it, we got too invested in our parts and almost did something I know you’ll regret.”

“I’m sorry,” It was all he could manage to reply with, eyes glued to the spot just between their feet and he felt the pit of regret in his stomach grow as Banri walked away - the tumbling of the locks loud in his ears as the click of the door as it closed making him realized just how far he could have gone if Banri just ran with it. He smirked - pushing his glasses back up as he tried to shake off the lingering feeling that was left hanging in his room. He didn’t want to think about what happened, he was good enough at pretending his emotions weren’t there but he was left with a lingering thought.

_Banri is a good man, better than he could ever be._

**Author's Note:**

> sorry ik people said porn without plot but my brain chemicals said angst and regret   
> [ My personal twt ](https://twitter.com/Dicesboyfriend)  
> [ 'custom fic info"](https://twitter.com/Dicesboyfriend/status/1297292080386060290?s=20)


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